The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-04-27
An Old, Bad Habit.
by MARY ELIZABETH BLAKE, OF BosTo

1t is strange what hold old habits re-
tain upon the world at large, although the
circumstances which formed them may
haye entirely disappeared. Centuries ago
the total absence of law, and the poor
apology for order which existed among
the governing forces Of masses of men,
rendered the appeal to arms the only So
luton possible in case Of difficulties be-
tween individuals or nations. A blind
feeling Of reverence and trust in the dl-
vine power accompanied this attempt at
settlement; so that, entering upon the
battle, or the duel, with the conviction
that God would aid the victim and con-
found the oppressor, it frequently result
cd that right did make might, and that
wrong was vanquished by justice. Our
broader and sadder wisdom has laughed
such faith to scorn; intricate relations be-
tween community and community, rs
well as complicated laws governing So
clety, have increased thousand fold the
causes of quarrel and misconception we
have removed the duel from the pale OF
civilization and Christianity, and relega-
ted all questions Of dispute between man
and man, whether civil or criminal, to the
arbitration of courts or to the decision OF
a body of jurors. But we still have re-
course to war as settlement of difficulty
between nations; and the wickedness
which we call murder in the singular be-
comes transformed to glory in the plural.
We do this with open eyes and unabash-
ed although we know but too we'll by
bitter experience OF life and the world,
that the justice of cause, or the honesty
of a motive, count for less than nothing
in determining the result if the opposite
money to equip them. What sad COM
mentary upon the state Of public opinion,
and upon the forces which rule the
chances Of defeat or success, is this SEN
tence taken from an editorial of the New
York Sitaa appropos of the question be-
tween the Uunited States and Canada :
'tIt is not the right or the wrong, the JUS
tice or the injustice of cause that deter
mines these disputes among nations; it
is the caliber and range of the rified guns,
the thickness of the armor plating, the
speed of the ships Of war;" TO what base
level has the moral nature sunk when we
must consent to give up cherished prin-
ciple or to act as the ruitian who demands
the same remuneration at the hands of an
other, according as our army is, or is not,
upon a war footing. What, after all, is
war footing? Millions of men taken from
honest toll and happy homes, and sweet
lite itself; millions of money diverted
from useful Industries and needed i'm
provements and the thousand waiting
paths of peace and progress; millions OF
acres Of fruitful soil and mighty cities
given up to wrath and desolation, to suf-
lering of hunger and thirst and internal
torture of mind and body on the part of
their inhabitants-and all for what? Not
that Justice may be done nor right aveng-
ed, since we have seen just now that
neither of those factors count in the re-
suit; but that in the end, all this inhu-
man slaughter, all this agony and devas-
tation, all this crying and mighty evil,
shall go to prove which country has tt the
a problem that could haye been so readily
and quietly settled without shot or groan.